


Ghost + 1

by KHGiggle



Series: Mystery Skulls Animated + 1 [1]
Category: Grrl Power (Webcomic), Mystery Skulls Animated
Genre: +1, F/M, Ghost video, Sydney and the gang have been friends for years, Sydney doesn't have those power orb things, Sydney isn't an OC, The gang has another member, This is the craziest crossover I have ever done, at least not yet
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-05-18
Updated: 2019-05-18
Packaged: 2020-03-07 05:41:45
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 5,729
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18866881
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/KHGiggle/pseuds/KHGiggle
Summary: The Mystery Skulls have an extra member: One Sydney Scoville Jr.  Things both change and stay the same.





	1. Ghost + 1

**Author's Note:**

> So...my brain is a very strange place at times. I like Mystery Skulls. I like Grrl Power. I wondered if I could combine the two while bored as work, and it just...took on a life of its own. And I feel happy enough about it that I've decided to start posting some of the chapters. If you're unfamiliar with Grrl Power, look it up. It's a fun superhero comic, and Sydney is hilarious. It's a good way to past the time. If you don't feel like it though, that's okay. Sydney's the only element from Grrl Power in this story. Although if it becomes a long running project that might change. Here's hoping it does get to that point.
> 
> And there are a few other head canons and ideas that I threw in. Things I like but haven't been confirmed by Mystery Ben. A few things that are almost certainly not canon. Let me know what you think of them.
> 
> And as a disclaimer I don't own Mystery Skulls Animated or Grrl Power in any sort of capacity. I lack that sort of creative genius.

Sydney was in the back of the van. She preferred it back there since she could move around more. Plus it felt weird staring out the window since losing her eye. She guessed it was the loss of depth perception. She was still learning how to gauge distance.

“So, that was kind of lame. Why did they think that guy was a ghost anyway?” asked Sydney as she tried to contact juggle some balls they had and dropped them all over the place. “He didn’t even put a lot of effort into his costume.”

“They were really superstitious,” said Arthur. “Only a few steps from being a cult when you think about it. They decide that anything strange has to have a supernatural or spiritual cause. Don’t even think there’s a scientific explanation because why couldn’t it be something that proves they’re right.”

“Arthur, you’re starting to ramble,” interrupted Vivi.

Arthur blushed. “Sorry.”

“It’s fine. They were a bit…extreme,” admitted Vivi. “I can see why it would upset you.”

Mystery decided this was a good reason to lay his head on Arthur’s lap. Sydney then flung her arms around him. “Yeah! I thought they were creepy too!”

“Sydney! I’m driving!”

“Pretty sure they thought I was an idiot,” continued Sydney. “I mean that tone they used with me was just insulting! Just because I’m missing an eye doesn’t mean I’m an idiot! Lots of people are missing parts and are smart! I’m not a pirate!” Sydney paused. “Actually, there were some pretty intelligent pirates. I don’t know where I was going with that. I seem to come back to pirates a lot lately. I know why I do, but it’s getting kind of old. I need to find something else to obsess with when I get riled up.”

“You could go back to talking about comics,” suggested Vivi.

Sydney sighed. “Yeah, I miss that…Why do I have so much trouble bringing comics up nowadays? It used to be second nature, but now I have to focus to talk about them. Even though I still love comics. It doesn’t make sense. Is this part of growing up? Part of recovering from a traumatic event? Both? It feels like something’s wrong. But isn’t that normal now?” Sydney rested her forehead on the back of Arthur’s head, not noticing how hard he was gripping the steering wheel. “Do you ever feel like that?”

“Yes,” said Arthur. He’d felt like it since he woke up in a hospital missing an arm, missing a friend, missing memories, missing so much… “I don’t think it’s gonna go away.” Mystery let out a whine and licked one of Sydney’s hands.

Vivi looked between the two as the mood quickly started to darken. God, she just wanted her two friends to be happy like they used to be. She needed to find a way to change the subject and make them smile. “Why don’t we pick up a couple of pizzas or something and then watch a couple of hours of Star Trek or Star Wars or Captain America?”

Arthur caught on to what she was trying to do and smiled. “That would be nice. It’s been a while since we hung out.” He frowned. “That’s my fault.” He’d been busy looking for Lewis. He was trying not to ignore his remaining friends, but it was hard when he wanted to find the other one and mentioning him did…something to them.

“What the heck are you working on anyway?” asked Sydney. “You’re not usually this secretive. You’re not trying to make a mechanical eye again, are you?”

“No!...Not usually anyway,” admitted Arthur.

“I can see where he’s coming from,” said Vivi. “I don’t think we can buy another eye if something else goes wrong. We need an alternative method.”

Sydney shuddered. “Okay, point taken. Being blind sucked. I don’t know how someone can live with that for a lifetime. Especially if you’re born like that! Can you imagine never knowing colors? And I bet light doesn’t make a lot of sense either. And you can’t play videogames!”

“Can’t work on cars or fabricate parts,” continued Arthur.

“Probably can’t paint either,” mused Vivi. “Unless the various colors smelled different from one another.”

Sydney wrinkled her nose. “Is-Is that a thing? And I don’t mean synesthesia! Can blind people have synesthesia? Or deaf people? Or anyone missing one sense?”

“What if sounds are linked to smell instead?” suggested Arthur.

“Can that happen?”

“Dunno. Maybe.”

“Pigments are just a type of chemical compound, so it would make sense for them to have a scent,” said Vivi, keeping the conversation from veering off in a completely different direction for once.

“Depends on the chemical. Some don’t have a scent, or at least the scent is too faint for humans to pick up on,” explained Arthur.

“I dunno, I swear I was smelling more right before you fixed my eye,” argued Sydney.

“It’s not quite the same thing. When you lose a sense you pay more attention to the ones that are left, like reassigning roles. We get the most information from sight, so when someone loses their sense of sight they pay a lot more attention to little things that they didn’t even realize they were ignoring. Also, I think there’s some neuroplasticity involved. Your brain isn’t using the part that used to be for putting together what your eyes saw, so it starts using it for other things over time.” Arthur was silent for a moment. “Um. But you, uh, would know better than me, given, you know. Sorry, I got a little too into the science papers I’ve been reading.”

Sydney smiled and shrugged. “It’s fine. I think it’s pretty interesting, even if I don’t understand all of it.” She tapped her eyepatch. “Does losing an eye affect how much of my brain it uses?”

“Just one? I’m not sure. You are seeing less…”

“Can you still smell and hear more than you’re used to?” asked Vivi.

Sydney shrugged. “Dunno. I don’t think so. Was kind of distracted at the time. Plus, everything looked different when I could see again.”

Vivi huffed. “It is just so unfair. How is it that my abilities still haven’t manifested but my half of the eye lets you see spirits?”

“It is really strange,” agreed Sydney.

“Maybe it’s because your abilities are already active,” suggested Arthur. “And you do have some control over ‘em.”

Vivi hummed in thought. “That might be it. There are still so many unknowns…”

“Hey, I don’t care how as long as no one else has to go blind,” said Sydney. “Besides, I’m sure something will wake you up eventually.”

“Yeah, but what if I’m like 40 when it finally happens?” complained Vivi. “Heck, if I have kids by then, they might have gotten their power before me…”

Arthur winced. “Do you want kids?”

Vivi nodded. “Of course! One, maybe two. I just have to find the right guy,” she said, giving Arthur a significant glance.

Arthur missed said glance entirely as he was distracted by thoughts of what could have been. Sydney was blind on that side. The only one to notice was Mystery, who huffed. Why did life have to be so difficult for these kids? The last time he’d had charges this prone to trouble…

It hadn’t ended well. Mystery would rather not dwell on the depressing memories.

Vivi realized her hint had gone over their heads yet again and decided to just move on. “Do you guys want kids?”

“I want one! So there can be a Sydney Scoville III!” proclaimed Sydney. “But just one. Don’t think I could handle more than that.”

Arthur was silent. Lewis wanted kids. He’d be an amazing father with how well he handled his sisters. “I dunno if I want children. I don’t want to pass on any of my issues.”

Vivi and Sydney both frowned at Arthur’s reasoning. “Most of your issues are due to your early upbringing,” pointed out Vivi. “You wouldn’t make those same choices and mistakes. That would prevent most of those issues from happening.”

“They could still pick up the behavior from me,” argued Arthur. “There’s only so much that I can change.”

“I don’t think you need to change,” said Sydney. “I mean, yeah, you’ve got anxiety issues, but lots of people do. You’re also smart and nice and help people and have cool hair and stro-”

“What if I attract something dangerous?” interrupted Arthur.

“Then I’ll just keep living nearby,” reasoned Sydney. She’d live with him if he asked. “I mean, I don’t see why I would leave Tempo.”

“Me either. Tempo is our home,” agreed Vivi. She placed a hand on Arthur’s flesh and blood hand. “We’re stuck with each other. For life.”

Arthur felt himself cheer up a bit at that. He gave Vivi a smile and tried to give Sydney one as best he could. Maybe he was being selfish, but he wanted to stay close to his friends.

And then the dashboard started to spark. Arthur’s eyes widened. “What?! No, no, no…” He stomped on the gas several times but failed to pick up speed.

Vivi frowned. “Is something wrong with the van?”

“There shouldn’t be! I just performed maintenance on it!”

Sydney raised an eyebrow. “Am I the only one who thinks the purple sparks were weird?”

Arthur blinked. “Purple?”

Sydney nodded. “Yeah, I was staring right at the dashboard.” The high beam light looked like a jellyfish. “Definitely purple.”

“That is not a thing that should happen!” shouted Arthur.

Vivi nodded. “Electricity’s supposed to just be white, which suggests this isn’t normal.” The van came to a stop right in front of…Vivi blinked several times. “A dancing mansion?”

Okay, it wasn’t actually dancing. However, it was sort of pulsing/bopping to a beat that one could feel in their bones. It was noticeably run down and purple and had eerie lights in the windows.

“There’s no way that’s not haunted,” deadpanned Sydney.

“Erm…” Arthur tried turning over the car again. “We don’t, have to investigate, do we?”

Vivi thought of what happened last time they’d jumped into an investigation without any preparation.

Blood. Hospitals. Loss. Guilt.

“If you can get the van started, we’re leaving,” said Vivi. “Sydney, you’re not wearing your suppressor?”

Sydney shook her head. “Still practicing controlling it on my own.”

“Good. Don’t reign it in.”

Mystery just stared at the mansion. He recognized its aura. He could barely believe it.

When did Lewis come back and what did he have planned?

 

Lewis was planning to exact his revenge. The plan had been simple: Create a mansion on a road that they often traveled along near Tempo (He couldn’t get into Tempo, but that could be because of some of the wards Vivi had tried setting up.), lure the Mystery Skulls (especially Arthur) into the mansion, separate them, bring Arthur to his location, kill Arthur, and reunite with the girls and Mystery, with possible minor changes as were needed. He was also open to making Arthur confess what happened to the girls (They must not have seen what happened to just go along with him.) before killing him.

The plan started to unravel as soon as the van came to a stop in front of his mansion. Part of that was because instead of rushing into the mansion on the heels of Vivi like he was expecting, they stayed in the van. And stayed. A lot longer than he recalled them ever doing so when he was alive.

Part of it was indirectly Sydney’s fault. He’d known that her aura was potent against malevolent spirits and the like, but he hadn’t really appreciated it until he felt it pressing down on him. From all the way outside. He found himself rubbing his temples. Ow. No wonder the nastier spirits went out of their way to avoid her. He was actually leaking some energy. He could last for some time as long as he was careful, but theoretically, they could just stay in the van until he was too drained to keep them here. If they tried that, he’d have to go out and confront them. Not something he wanted to do, but if it became necessary…

Lewis wondered why he was being affected in the first place. He wasn’t evil…Well, okay, he did want to kill Arthur. That was justified, but maybe it was gray enough for Sydney’s ability to categorize him as malevolent. If that was the case, then it would probably stop after he killed Arthur and no longer had any desire to hurt someone.

Lewis was dragged from his musings as several figures started exiting the van. Finally! Lewis quickly started setting up the finishing touches of his plan.

It was time to end this.

 

Arthur had to admit defeat. “I’ll need to look under the hood, and I don’t want to do that in front of a haunted mansion.” He sighed. “I don’t wanna go inside either.”

Sydney had been staring at the mansion the whole time. She could see the music. And anger. This eye was so weird. “I think you’d be okay. Pretty sure my aura will reach that far.”

Mystery could confirm that her aura did extend that far and would retain enough potency to be effective. Not that he could tell them, but it was certainly a weight off his shoulders.

Vivi started handing out various items for protection and fighting. “It’s a tough choice. Stay out here alone but relatively safe or go inside with us to stay close to Sydney and me.”

Arthur groaned. If he was less worried about the girls’ safety he would stay outside, but he couldn’t help but worry that if he let them go inside that he would never see them again. It had happened before. Even if he couldn’t do anything to protect them, he could draw fire away from them.

“I think I’ll go with you guys,” Arthur decided.

Sydney and Vivi studied him for a moment before Sydney suddenly bit her thumb and smeared some blood in the center of his forehead. “Just in case.”

Arthur instinctively looked up with crossed eyes for a moment. “Uh. Okay. I guess that’ll work.”

“It should. There is power in blood,” said Vivi as she gave him some holy water and slipped a beaded necklace over his head and under his shirt. “We can try practicing making protective symbols with it too.”

Sydney chuckled. “Like an anime.” She nodded. “Anything that you think will help.”

Arthur fought down the urge to wipe at the blood on his forehead. “Can I just say that I don’t like having other people’s blood on me?” It brought back bad memories.

Sydney winced. “Oh. Sorry. Should’ve asked first, shouldn’t I?”

Arthur took a deep breath. “I’m fine. I’ll be fine. You said it might help so it’s something to try.” The blood itched on his forehead. “But I am totally scrubbing it off when we get out of here.”

Vivi nodded. “Sounds like a decent enough compromise.” She handed an ofuda to Sydney. Sydney smeared some more blood on the back of it. “I don’t want either of you getting hurt again. You’re just starting to get back to where you were before.”

That made both of them wince. The last few months of learning to live with new handicaps had been difficult and frustrating in several ways. They didn’t want a repeat with themselves or Vivi or Mystery.

All four of them silently vowed to protect the others.

The walk up to the mansion’s front door took just a few seconds. Vivi knocked on the doors (She was concerned that the inhabitants would be excited by Arthur knocking and see Sydney knocking as a declaration of war.), which creaked open ominously. They inched in, the doors slamming shut behind them.

The darkness didn’t last long enough for them to pull out flashlights. Several purple wisps of fire floated by and lit candles lined along the walls and set on a chandelier.

Vivi absently noted that the layout kind of reminded her of the Spencer mansion, except a lot more purple.

“Sydney, stop humming.”

“Oops. Didn’t notice-”

Several purple ghosts suddenly popped up. “Who-o-o-o-oa!”

Most of the group immediately tensed up. Vivi didn’t immediately though. “Cute!”

They really were adorable…until more popped up behind them. “This time I might just disa-Who-o-o-o-who-o-o-oa!” They suddenly got pointy toothed with claws. “Oh yeah!”

Nope. They took off running down the hallway through breaks in the ghosts.

“This time I might just disappear!”

A suit of armor suddenly lunged towards them and swung an ax. Sydney and Vivi dove under the ax. Arthur vaulted over it. Mystery barely dodged it, having to use his kitsune magic to retract his head into his body.

“Gah!”

“Mystery!”

“)%$*&$^#$(%^)*%(&%*&$&!”

Mystery popped his head back out before any uncomfortable questions could be asked.

“Who-o-o-o-who-o-o-oa…”

They abruptly realized that the paintings lining the hall were moving. They suddenly leapt out. “Oh yeah!”

The Mystery Skulls leapt into each other’s arms. Thankfully, the portrait spirits pulled back into the paintings. “Who-o-o-o-oa…” And then the lady painting reached out and pulled a rope next to her painting.

A trapdoor opened under them. They fell down screaming, and things became bizarre, even by their standards. They weren’t falling as quickly as they should be. It was more like they were floating. Not to mention there were several random items in the space with them. A few hours later, they would comment on how it was oddly reminiscent of Alice in Wonderland.

They floated past several mirrors. Vivi was a bit confused by the fact that her reflection had completely purple eyes. From what Mystery could see in his cracked mirror they could see past glamours. Arthur was facing away from the mirrors so he didn’t see that they failed to reflect his prosthetic. Sydney did faintly notice this but was a bit distracted by how her reflection showed her right after her injury with her remaining eye leaking various colors from it.

Then Arthur’s fall suddenly sped up. Vivi and Sydney made to grab him, but just missed him. Then they noticed Sydney was falling even slower and tried to grab each other, but it was too late again.

Sydney let out an ‘oof’ and shot to her feet as she landed. “I’m armed!” she shouted, brandishing the ofuda. She turned around. There were a bunch of boxes, a dusty bed with no covers, and… a mannequin in a wedding dress and holding an ax? Sydney thought she was in the basement until she noticed some windows that she ran over to. She felt her brain short circuit. “How the *&^*) do you fall down into the attic?!”

Vivi and Mystery had landed in a kitchen where a pair of dagwood sandwiches were laid out on the center counter. The two stared at them for several moments but managed to pull themselves away. “Right. Separated…We should look for Arthur first. Sydney can take care of herself in this sort of situation.” Her stomach growled. Mystery’s growled even louder. “…I wonder if it would be safe to grab a few pieces.”

Arthur landed on his ass in what was probably the basement. He absentmindedly glanced upward in confusion (How did that work? Ghost logic was so weird.) before zeroing in on a large coffin with a skull and thorny vine design on the top of the lid. It was beating like the rest of the house.

Not good.

The coffin slowly opened, revealing a jawless skull floating above a large body in a nice suit.

Lewis narrowed his eye sockets as he floated out and slammed his feet in front of Arthur. He glared at his murderer, full of hate and anger.

Arthur stared in fear, unable to recognize his dead friend. All he saw was a scary, probably powerful, likely dangerous ghost that had separated him from his friends.

Lewis broke the silence by pointing a finger at Arthur. “Fuck, it’s you I hate the most.”

Arthur gulped and pointed at himself. “Buh-buh-Why?”

It was a reasonable question from Arthur’s point of view. Lewis…it did occur to him that he wasn’t as recognizable without his face. He lit the braziers and let his hair form. “Does this answer your question?!”

No, it didn’t, but Arthur decided he wasn’t going to explain that this was a case of mistaken identity to a ghost that probably wasn’t going to listen. He threw the vial of holy water, turned on his heel, and ran.

Lewis did recoil a bit at the holy water. He was a fire ghost. Water stung even if it wasn’t holy. Then he threw it off, decided this was proof of Arthur’s guilt, and gave chase.

Arthur was in good shape (He didn’t understand how he was still so healthy when he’d been hospitalized and locked in his workroom so much for the last few months.) and used to running from scary things. He glanced behind him and saw the ghost practically flying towards him. No more glancing back. He put on a burst of speed.

Oh, hey, Vivi and Mystery. “Angry ghost! Run!”

Vivi and Mystery looked away from the sandwiches they were still debating eating. They looked in the direction Arthur came from, threw the sandwiches at the angry ghost, and ran after Arthur. Lewis didn’t bother trying to avoid the sandwich contents and flew right through them.

“We need to find Sydney!” shouted Vivi.

“Where is she?!” shouted Arthur.

“I don’t know!”

Mystery could feel that Sydney had ended up in the attic and was managing to work her way down. He pulled ahead and ran up some stairs, Arthur and Vivi close behind him. They ran through a bunch of doors and rooms.

Sydney heard the racket and threw open the door of the room she’d wandered into. “Angry Elvis ghost!”

That threw Lewis for a loop. “Elvis? Are you kid-” He saw the eyepatch. “What happened to your-”

Sydney threw an ofuda at him. Lewis yelped and pulled it off. That hurt!

“You stay away from Arthur!” demanded Sydney.

That hurt almost as much as the ofuda. “You don’t get it. He-”

Vivi darted back and grabbed Sydney. “What’re you waiting for?!” She then dragged Sydney off.

Okay, Vivi and Sydney didn’t know about his murder. Somehow. Maybe it was post traumatic amnesia or something. Clearly, this needed to be remedied. Also, why was Sydney wearing an eyepatch? She wasn’t wearing an eyepatch for the heck of it. There’d been scars peeking out. He gave chase, now equally intent on telling Vivi and Sydney what happened along with killing Arthur.

He threw fire to keep Arthur from moving down a hallway. Arthur turned and stared at him fearfully. Lewis felt his desire for vengeance clawing up his heart.

And then Vivi and Sydney put themselves between them, Vivi with her arms outstretched as if to shield Arthur as much as possible, Sydney with her hands up as if she was prepared to fight him.

This was wrong. Vivi and Sydney were supposed to be on his side. He wasn’t the enemy! He just needed…Maybe…Yes. That would work. He willed his anchor towards them.

They just needed to see the proof of who he was, that they knew him.

The flames died down. Arthur was certain he knew the way to the front door from this spot. He grabbed Vivi and Sydney and booked it.

Vivi and Sydney glanced back once.

Mystery made sure to take up the rear.

Lewis stared in disbelief and heartbreak as his murderer and the love(s?) of his life and (more than) best friend ran away from him.

And his anchor fell and broke.

And Lewis switched to frustration and anger and despair and why did this happen to him?! Why why why?!

He screamed, pouring his everything into it as his fire erupted around him.

The living Mystery Skulls barely made it through the doors in time to avoid being burned alive. Mystery might have had something to do with it. They rushed to the van. “Go go go!”

Arthur revved the van. It started. “I’m going!”

They peeled out of there.

None of them saw the figure watching them from one of the high windows. Lewis watched as the van drove away. He pressed down on his cracked anchor and looked at the picture inside.

It was from shortly after he and Vivi started dating. He had an arm around Vivi, who was hugging him. Sydney had an arm thrown over his shoulder while he used his free arm to support her. No Arthur. The three of them were smiling and happy and whole and alive.

They could never go back to that.

Lewis barely noticed the tear running down his face as he finally passed out and returned to his anchor, the house fading around him.


	2. Ghost + 1:  The Aftermath

“The house is disappearing,” announced Sydney, staring out the back window. “I guess the ghost made it out of ghost energy. Or something.” That was a powerful ghost. “We should be safe for now.”

“I’m not stopping until we get to town,” said Arthur. That was too close. They were almost killed!

Vivi frowned. “Will the van be all right? He might’ve fried a component or something.”

“Um…” Arthur thought a moment. “Well, it started fine. It’s not making any troubling sounds. Might have messed with some of the electrical components, but this is an older van, so they won’t have much impact on its function once it’s up and running. So, yeah, we should get home all right, and I’ll run diagnostics on it tomorrow when I have some free time.”

Mystery let out a whine. He knew that Lewis had not been in a right state of mind and had been dangerous to be around, but it hurt to leave him behind again.

Vivi misunderstood and pulled him into her lap. “It’s okay Mystery. We’ll be home and away from any spooks soon.”

Mystery laid his head on her shoulder, wishing he could tell her what was wrong, but she was still suffering from whatever Lewis had done to her memory…

Maybe he could go back later, try to talk to Lewis on his own, get him to see reason.

Sydney leaned over the chairs. “Any idea what that was about? I’m kind of confused about the whole thing. Guy put me in the attic which was full of boxes that just had more boxes in them. And what I swear was a copy of the bride from the Haunted Mansion from Disney World. I looked in a few rooms while I was looking for you, but they were empty except for one that had a bed in it, but it didn’t feel like a bedroom if that makes sense.”

“He wouldn’t have needed a bedroom,” muttered Vivi. “He wouldn’t have needed actual food either, but he had some in the kitchen.” She frowned. “Did he plan this? Or maybe keep some food for if someone came by?”

“Why would he feed someone he was going to kill?” asked Arthur.

“Maybe it was poisoned!” suggested Sydney.

Vivi felt nauseous for a moment. “That’s certainly a possibility…”

“Oh, geez, you didn’t eat any, did you?” asked Sydney.

Arthur spun towards Vivi, nearly driving off the road. “Vivi!”

“I didn’t eat anything!” insisted Vivi, deciding not to mention she almost had. “Why would he need poison though? He had really powerful fire abilities and clearly wasn’t afraid to use them.”

Arthur shuddered and Sydney scowled at the memory. “He said it was me he hated the most,” said Arthur.

“Seriously?” Sydney asked in exasperation. “What could you have possibly done?”

“I…” He glanced towards Vivi. “Maybe he was one of the guys from when I escaped the cult? Except that wouldn’t make sense. It’s been over 10 years, and they wouldn’t have announced themselves like that. They would have just given me a fatal injury before I realized they were there.”

“That does make sense,” agreed Vivi. She’d seen how Arthur fought. She hadn’t been at all surprised when her father had taken him on as an apprentice. “Plus aren’t they supposed to eschew material things, like fancy suits?”

Arthur nodded. “Yeah, simple clothes, preferably homemade. Nothing like…that.”

Sydney snorted. “He was like Ghost Rider’s better dressed cousin. Hey, you think that was the suit he was buried in?”

“If it is, then that kills the cult theory,” said Arthur. “They used shrouds. Always. No exceptions.”

Vivi hummed in thought for a moment. “Maybe he’s someone we’ve run across before who died later on?”

“We have pissed off a lot of people,” commented Sydney. She winced. “Wow, there could be a lot of potential angry ghosts out there. Heck, considering what some of ‘em were like, they’d probably kill themselves to try and become a vengeful ghost.”

“That’s so stupid!” exclaimed Arthur.

“It might not seem so stupid to them,” pointed out Vivi. “And if they could pull off a ritual…”

“Where would they get that sort of stuff in jail?” muttered Sydney. “I know there’s a black market for like cigarettes and period pads, but where would they get something like aconite or yew bark? I mean some of that stuff’s dangerous even outside of magic. It’d be easier to break out of prison, but then they wouldn’t have to kill themselves to get back at us! Or maybe they would. Arthur kind of leaves an impression. I wouldn’t wanna fight him. I’d try to find some other way around him,” rambled Sydney. “But that would be hard cause supernatural stuff would be attracted to him, but I guess that’s not bad because he can’t actually see that stuff or do anything about that.” She frowned. “Hey, why didn’t that ghost back there stay invisible then? He could’ve snuck up on Arthur and set him on fire and that would be that.”

“And now I’m going to see that in my nightmares tonight,” drawled Arthur. “Thanks.”

Sydney’s eye widened. “Oh geez, I didn’t mean-Ignore everything I just said!”

Vivi shook her head. “No, you bring up some good points. I’m starting to think the second theory is pretty unlikely. I’ll still look up if anyone we’ve helped arrest has passed away recently, but I’d like to consider other possibilities as well.” She frowned in thought as she considered a new train of thought. “Arthur, what if he’s someone you knew but who died when you were so young you can’t remember him?”

“That…I guess it could be possible,” admitted Arthur. “But I still don’t know why he would want me dead. And what could a three-year-old have done to convince someone they need to die?”

“Pooped on his books,” suggested Sydney.

“Ew…No.”

“Ate his pudding?”

“That seems a bit much.”

“Stole his cat?”

“We never had any pets.”

“Spilled spaghetti sauce on his favorite white shirt?”

“Where are you getting these things?” questioned Arthur.

Vivi chuckled at them as she tapped her leg in thought. Something occurred to her. “Did he ever actually say your name?” Arthur shook his head. “Lance says you look a lot like your dad…”

Arthur winced. “Ah. That would make sense. Uncle Lance and Dad come from old money so a fancy suit and tie would not be out of place.” Arthur considered the options for a moment. “Maybe he was someone with a relative in the cult.”

“Huh, I didn’t think the suit looked that old,” commented Sydney. She frowned. “But have suits changed that much? And who wears a cravat nowadays anyway?”

“What’s a cravat?” asked Arthur.

“It’s like a fancy tie, bunch of cloth,” Sydney tried to explain. “Some characters I know wear ‘em, usually guys with money or class or both.”

“That fits,” said Vivi. “We can ask Lance if your dad ever pissed off someone enough for them to want him dead.”

“He wouldn’t know if it had something to do with the cult, but it’s a good place to start,” agreed Arthur.

Sydney made a considering sound. “You know…This makes a lot more sense. That ghost was pretty powerful. He would have had to have been dead for a while, right?”

Vivi nodded. “Generally speaking, it takes a while for a ghost to become that powerful, and we’ve only been doing this for a few years. He must have died before that if he’s at that power level, unless he used some sort of ritual.”

Mystery sighed. That was the case with most ghosts, but Lewis was a huge exception. He suspected a combination of a sudden and violent death, Lewis’ own powers, and the location. It was steeped in spiritual energy that he suspected had belonged to the demon. Energy the demon had been cut off from when Mystery sealed it in Arthur’s arm. He had noticed that the coloration of the cave had been darkening when they’d left, but had thought the energy was simply dispersing.

Lewis must have instinctively absorbed the energy and sped up his formation and development without realizing it.

And he’d come back as a vengeful wraith. Clearly, he thought Arthur had been fully responsible for his death. An understandable mistake, but Mystery couldn’t help but feel annoyed at Lewis. He had been a medium in life. He’d seen possessions. He knew Arthur attracted nasty entities. He still thought Arthur killed him even knowing all those facts. The only explanation Mystery could come up with was that Lewis was not able to think straight due to becoming so powerful so quickly after losing his brain.

Mystery wasn’t sure this could be fixed. There were purification rituals…No, that would require Lewis being willing to let go of his anger. Mystery would just have to make sure Sydney and Arthur stayed close to each other for the foreseeable future. At least until he found a way to calm Lewis which didn’t require Arthur being killed.

Mystery was brought out of his thoughts by Sydney picking him up. He let out a yelp. “Don’t worry Mystery. We won’t let that big, mean ghost hurt you.”

He was the last person Sydney needed to worry about.


End file.
